Rebecca Cheptegei’s neighbor said the late Olympic runner was “on fire” and asked her to help in the moments after the athlete’s ex-partner doused her with petrol.
“I was in the house and I heard people shouting ‘fire’,” said Agnes Barabara, BBC reports. “When I came out I saw Rebecca running towards my house in flames, shouting ‘Help me’.’ ”
She continued: “As I went to get water and started calling for help, her attacker reappeared and poured more petrol on her. But then he also got burned and ran towards the garden to try to put it out. Then we went to help Rebecca.”
The 33-year-old runner – who ran for Uganda in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics last month – was taken to a local hospital in Kenya after the attack on Sunday, September 1.
The father of Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei is calling for justice after she was killed in a petrol attack
She died four days later of “total organ failure”, after suffering burns to almost 80% of her body in the attack, which also left her ex-partner Dickson Ndiema seriously injured.
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The long-distance runner had just returned from church with her children and was heard arguing with Ndiema over land in Trans Nzoia County in western Kenya where she had built a home, ABC News reported.
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Ndiema is due to appear in court after he is released from hospital, the BBC reported.
“I am very sad because I lost my daughter,” Rebecca’s father Joseph Cheptegei told reporters at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, Kenya on Thursday, September 5, where the long-distance runner died. “I’m asking for your help so that this person who killed my daughter can be prosecuted.”
An Olympic marathon runner was set on fire by her boyfriend in a petrol attack just weeks after competing in Paris 2024.
Cheptegei, a mother of two young daughters, finished 44th at the Paris Olympics with a season’s best time of 2:32:14. Her previous best marathon time was in December 2022, when she ran 2:22.47 at the Abu Dhabi Marathon. Her neighbor Barabara and others who live in the rural community recall waving to the runner as she finished her training.
“She was a very good neighbor and recently she shared with me the corn she harvested,” said Barabara.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education